Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2016 January 4

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January 4

The Strongest

Does anyone know why a Bolivian football team has an English name? Rojomoke (talk) 08:56, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Spanish apparently has twenty synonyms for everything "strong" represents. Some would apply better to defensive capabilities (duro, firme, profundo) than offensive (intenso, vigoroso, fervoroso). "Strongest" is a nice short way of saying they're strong everywhere and English is the closest thing this planet has to a universal language. That's my guess, anyway. Probably a deeper answer out there. InedibleHulk (talk) 11:34, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

English is certainly the language of football, just as French is for fencing or Japanese for Judo. Alansplodge (talk) 13:57, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Hence the transliterated-from-English word "fútbol". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:19, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Several English-named non-Anglophone football teams sound a little bizarre. The one that always gives me pause is this famous Swiss club, not to mention its offshoot (note their official full name). {The poster formerly know as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 19:46, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

They should be grateful they're not in Thailand, where they'd undoubtedly be called "The Lady Boys". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:42, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

The University of South Carolina's men's teams are called the "Gamecocks", and the women's teams used to be called the "Lady Gamecocks" (as opposed to "Gamehens", I suppose). That was bad enough, but now they're just plain "Gamecocks". As regards "lady boys", I think for a long time that was the American stereotype of soccer players in general. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:03, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

The Delaware Blue Hens have the same problem in the opposite direction... --Jayron32 14:19, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Likewise the Toledo Mud Hens. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:06, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

I also thought of Young Boys of Switzerland. Also, check out this Argentinian team: es:Club_Atlético_Newell's_Old_Boys --Dweller (talk) 11:14, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Although in that case, the club was founded by an English chap called Isaac Newell originally from Strood, who ran a college in Argentina. The Old Boys were his former students. Alansplodge (talk) 12:50, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

I don't think I was suggesting that the club was named randomly. --Dweller (talk) 13:00, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that; however, in your case, there is a clear link to England explaining the English title, but in the case of "The Strongest" that link doesn't seem to exist. Alansplodge (talk) 13:21, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

I wonder if it would be possible for the Young Boys to play the Old Boys in any competition. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 12:37, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

That reminds me of the year Keith F.C. did well in the Scottish FA Cup. On a radio phone in, Danny Baker asked for ideas of who the best opponents would be for Keith. The best answer, was of course, that in a future European competition, when both clubs have risen from their current lowly statuses, we could see Keith versus Barry. --Dweller (talk) 12:55, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

@185.74.232.130: according to the Young Boys article, they split from BSC Old Boys. They have played each other at various levels. Hack (talk) 13:48, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

To return to the initial question - their website suggests that all the early La Paz teams had English names and that they had an English language student, Víctor Manuel Franco, prominent among their founders [1]. Keresaspa (talk) 03:32, 9 January 2016 (UTC)